Drainable ostomy pouches are well known as shown, for example, in Nolan U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,534 and Jensen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,659. Such a pouch typically has flat opposing sidewalls secured together along their edges and defining a chamber for receiving body waste material. One of the walls is provided with a stoma-receiving opening, and means are provided for securing the pouch to a patient's abdomen so that waste discharge from the stoma is received in the cavity. At its lower end, the drainable pouch has a discharge opening for draining waste material, usually provided at the end of a narrowed neck portion. Closure means is provided for maintaining the discharge opening in sealed condition until such time as waste material is to be drained from the pouch. The closure means may take the form of a clamp, as in the aforementioned Nolan patent, or some device for securing the neck portion in upwardly-rolled condition. As will be appreciated, conventional wire ties or wraps have also been used for that purpose.
A drainable pouch is reusable following periodic emptying of waste material, but cleaning is necessary prior to reuse so that effective sealing can be assured and odors emanating from the resealed pouch can be avoided. Users often encounter difficulty and discomfort in unsealing, emptying, cleaning and resealing drainable pouches because of the direct exposure to waste material and because the manipulations may require greater dexterity than a patient, particularly an elderly patient, can provide. Adding to the problem is the fact that residual amounts of solid and/or liquid waste matter at the lower end of a drainage pouch tends to block or hold the walls of the pouch together, making cleaning of the inside surfaces adjacent the drain opening even more difficult.